S.A. Mason LLC Sells 216 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

S.A. Mason LLC lowered its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,764 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 216 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises approximately 1.3% of S.A. Mason LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the second quarter worth $11,421,213,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 65,631.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,225,637 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,508,636,000 after purchasing an additional 8,213,123 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the first quarter worth about $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,413,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,765,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $561,313,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MA shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price objective on Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $630.89.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $583.88 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $527.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.37, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $577.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $559.16.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The company had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.50 earnings per share. Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total transaction of $601,447.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 12,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,815.17. This trade represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,833,004.23. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 38,717 shares of company stock worth $22,684,831. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.